For all my brothers there tonight at CYAG, I wanted to post a few things you gave me. I know its not often that the minister is ministered to, but tonight was amazing. The words the spirit fed through you truly touched me. Here is what really got me:
So boys and girls, that is the new benchmark. I hope you push your bar up this high too. As Christians, we deserve nothing less than Ephesians 5:22-24 and 1 Corinthians 4-13.
In Christ — Nick
i am sitting in the mall here….and….i think i have lost touch with my generation. the men all look like ken cut-outs and the girls beyonce-in-a-bottle. i think i maybe forever once removed from them. oh well, i will wear my Jesus tees and cross with much joy as i walk through this mtv audition of life
Wow am I struggling! Lent is right around the corner and I am begining to realize that I don’t know what it is I will commit too. This sounds so goofy, but I want it to be good. In the past I feel I almost copped out by taking the lesser of something to ensure success. That isn’t right. This year I am more inline to struggle as Jesus did for 40 days in the desert…so please everyone keep me in your thoughts and prayers. Please let my heart be pure and open to whatever it is that God could help to better understand with. In Christ — Nick
PS
I am very excited that this personal Lent season journey will not be made alone, my very good friend Kade will be participating with me. How awesome to have someone there to support my walk spirtually!
When awhile ago I was going through some rough times, Father Tim suggested I write down what it is I needed, not wanted, from a spouse. The fruits of this discussion will follow below:
So that is what Nick needs from a soul mate. These are set in stone…binding…
My Father (My Bio Dad, not my Priest 
) and I were talking about spirtual warfare and our issues with it. As Catholics were are often left out of these discussions because we don’t talk about it much. I have listened to Christian radio preachers spend months on spirtual warfare, ripping apart each line and word. My Dad started reading a book about spirtual warfare and the line that stood out was sorta like “Stand strong to evil, but don’t become entangled with it. Let us not forget that warfare means we are focusing on evil. If you focus on good, evil has no where to dwell.” How awesome and true. To me spirtual warfare is a great idea and the scripture offers us a very real and warrior-like image, BUT if we are truly focusing on Christ…is there any need? Is that not in and of itself the only “warfare” I need to posses? Now to what the spirit brought to me as we spoke and my Dad told me to write it down:
Focusing on spirtual warfare is like teaching someone to survive a car accident rather than teaching them to drive.
LOVING AND AWESOME GOD! I love when God comes into my heart and mind during discussions. Praise Always — Nick
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Kade says: I agree completely. GOSH I wish you could have been at bible study when we did the armor scripture (and we only did a little on it..it wasn’t the main focus I promise). We always go beneath the surface (this was at Jim and Derek’s not image or the big church..this is just us little college brats saying…gosh I wonder what this REALLY means). We did word studies on each piece of armor and what they protected both physically and in an abstract sense, it was really quite interesting. The piece of the armor that we really focused on was the helmet. The helmet of salvation. (I know when you first start reading this it’s going to sound like I’m dissecting it and I’m going to say exactly what those other people said..stay with me..I’m not)…First off we need to know what the helmet protects. In the physical sense, your brain (uhh yeah..the most vital organ there is..if you ain’t got no brain..there ain’t no you). In the more abstract sense, your mind. This is where spiritual warfare’s main focus SHOULD be at. Your mind and your thoughts. Everyday we wake up, we need to be guarding our minds because no matter how deep you are or how involved in the church or even the world, millions of thoughts both good and bad are going to enter into that vital place. When we started discussing this topic at bible study we all kind of went..hmm..DUH! But then Jim raised the question, “when is all of this too much?!â€? If we are thinking about what we’re thinking all the time and guarding against the enemy doesn’t that seem like we’re giving satan some focus?! We all fired back with the same answer..that there is balance. Now why salvation as the helmet?! Because that is first and foremost the most important thing we will deal with on earth. Yes or no..accept or deny..Heaven or hell. So, if we have that security of salvation, yeah.. sure we are going to face thoughts that the enemy puts in our head but we need not give it but a second to cast it down or out or whatever because we HAVE that salvation and then we refocus on what God has done/is doing for us. The problem is that we all have ups and downs. There are times when we have trouble focusing on God’s grace and mercy. Our circumstances seem like too much and we get depressed. I’ve done it and I’ll probably do it at least another 4 or 5 times really bad before I die. We are humans after all. Small brilliant lights plopped down by God in a sea of muck and darkness, we are called to focus on Christ throughout it all, just sometimes it seems like too much to ask for because we’re surrounded by all this black until we surrender our circumstances and emotions, buck up and start fighting this sort of battle. I agree fully, be equipped, be VERY equppied..just don’t dwell.
